Jewelry is commonly sold with an accompanying gift box to allow for an attractive presentation of the jewelry. In addition such a gift box prevents the jewelry from being tarnished. Such a gift box is commonly of a clamshell design with the jewelry, such as a ring, held by a support in the bottom section of the jewelry box. These boxes may be kept for jewelry storage or are disposable. Most commonly, the jewelry box has a top half and a bottom half connected by a hinge. The hinge usually holds the top and bottom half clamped shut, and upon opening provides a spring force, which holds the jewelry box open.
A number of prior devices have been proposed to add features to jewelry display boxes. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,937,320 discloses a box for holding a jewelry item. This box includes a small light bulb in a cop section of the jewelry box connected to a battery in the bottom section of the box. The hinge joining the top and bottom sections include a switch. The switch is activated by opening the box, closing a circuit to bring power to the bulb. Light is then directed by the bulb to the jewelry in the box.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,329,433 includes a high-intensity electric lamp in the top of the section of a hinged jewelry box. A reflector in the top section reflects additional light produced by the light source onto jewelry contained within the box. As in the previous device, a switch in the hinge allows closing a circuit, which connects the light source to a battery source.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a jewelry box with additional features that enhance the display of the jewelry within the box and provides a message displayed when the box is opened.